I did not know that about nuclear tests in Mississippi. Very interesting. But that tidbit aside, this “news story” about down winders in New Mexico just doesn’t have any meat to it. The headline is repeated at the end of the summary about the tests in New Mexico and that’s it. Who were they? Where did they live? What happened to them? When did they become sick? Why did they become sick? This story and headline was probably just click bait, but it sure is disappointing to read. Not a single curiosity raised by the headline is answered.
Those of us who lived in Southern and Central Utah in the early ‘50’s were the true “Downwinders,” thanks to the Nevada Test Site. In grade school, we were given iodine pills every week by government nurses.
This was ostensibly to “prevent” any radiation, though they didn’t tell us exactly that. What they told us was that it was for our thyroids, but at those ages, we had no clue. As innocents, we believed.
The people in Southern Utah, specifically St George, Moab and Kanab, suffered more than we did in Central Utah, with lots of cancer and lots of Down Syndrome children. Even John Wayne, and several of the cast and crew of “The Conqueror” fell victim to the radiation.
Today, I have CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) and I blame it on the testing. And there are a lot of “us” out there.